Keystone Weekly
volume 1, issue 11       December 13, 1999

This week's Key Points: *From the Director's Desk* and *Teacher and Kit Connections*

From the Director's Desk

(A brief section this week as I've been out of the office since last Monday.)

Ongoing site visits:
As most of you know, the KSN staff has been actively visiting Keystone sites for over a week now. Last Wednesday and Thursday I had some wonderful opportunities to reconnect with folks at both Northeastern and Lancaster School Districts on the way back from the Southwestern Pennsylvania LASER Strategic Planning Conference. It was especially nice to have the chance to sit in on some actual classroom instruction. It reaffirms what KSN is all about, as well as how much I miss the teaching role I largely traded for program administration. We were warmly welcomed and had marvelous experiences in project schools we visited. Clearly things are moving forward on both the connectivity and kit implementation fronts and neat teaching and learning experiences are accruing. It will certainly be great to have the charter group back together at the January 26 colloquium so that all may share what is going on across the KSN sites.

Next issue of The Weekly:
Due to the upcoming holiday period we do not plan to put out the next issue until the week of January 10. In the meantime we will continue active email communications as needed. Have a most enjoyable holiday!!!

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Teacher and Kit Connections

This report is from Joyce Hubert-Theriot, Science Educator at The Franklin Institute:

Recently we visited the Lancaster School District and observed Larry Warmingham implementing the FOSS "Models and Designs" module, (grades 5-6). Just as Larry's class did, others may find that during the third activity (called "Go-Carts"), the students will often apply race car designs to their models. Most students want their models to go fast and far. Therefore, extending an "Indy 500" imagery may generate considerable excitement and interest from the most reluctant learners. Before initiating the Go-Cart activity, set up the room with visuals as described in the NOVA Online "Fast Cars" Teacher's guide. Ask the students to bring in pictures or drawings of race cars to warm-up their thinking about the topic, then set the stage for brainstorming ideas about designing successful cars. Have students perform the NOVA "soup race" to remind them of the conceptual techniques used in the first FOSS activity with the black box.

Teachers like Larry who use the computer as a resource station during kit usage can continue the NASCAR theme by setting up the website called "Rockets on Wheels." It allows students with classroom internet access to build a race car online. This helps students to consider the design intent of various car parts and become more reflective about their own car structure. Details such as the physical forces that affect the car's motion, the monetary constraints, and the names of car parts are addressed. Additionally, this site offers specifications on actual race cars which the teacher can use as an example to show students how to record their own design changes. The excitement of the NASCAR world gives a new perspective to the students. Race car drivers are required to list exact information on the parts of their cars and this can be motivational for students who resist writing or cataloging design features.

As a final "Day at the Races" event, decorate the room with flags from each of the "racing" teams using their chosen car colors. You can simulate an atmosphere for your own style Indy-(replaced by name of school)-500. Each team will run their final-version go-cart in an actual race. Post-race discussions should include descriptions of the best feature from each car (using their design "spec" sheets), which will then be combined to design and build the ultimate class model.

We thank Larry for giving us a generous time allowance, and for sharing his spectacular science class!

NOVA Online: Fast Cars Teacher's Guide:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachersguide/fastcars/

Rockets on Wheels website:
http://www.pbs.org/tal/racecars/

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 9819641.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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